The device is a teething ring that have a handle made out of plastic. The actual teething area would be made out of some type of rubber where the spheres are located, so the infant can teeth it. The rubber portion would contain water inside the spheres and then there will be a painted layer of the vitamin, that way the infant’s saliva could activate the liquid. The ring would be put in the freezer to somewhat freeze the water that is in the spheres. This will create a texture that the infant’s can teeth, while at the same time not disrupt the vitamins that are on the outside. This teething ring would solve the issue of infants that are malnourished and low in vitamins (Calcium, A, Iron, and D). This would prevent a lot of health issues that children would develop by lacking the vitamins, like blindness, severe asthma, and anemia.
Prototype
Technical and Clinical Feasibility
Technical Feasibility
Overall the device is very feasible. The components that are required to make it already exist and are used frequently, so the issue of not having the necessary technology materials is taken out of play. However, there could be potential issues when it comes to applying the vitamins to the device, as this is something that has not happened a lot in the past, leaving potential room for the device to fail.
Clinical Feasibility
This is a low-risk device clinically because it is noninvasive and features technologies that are already in use in different contexts. Currently, a clinical trial that is relevant to the concept of teething is a test for the drug Calgel®, which is a topical anesthetic that is meant to ease the pain of teething in infants, in phase 3 of testing
(https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02931357?term=teething&rank=1).
Market Analysis
Value Creation
The value this prototype creates for the customer is how it helps any child’s health problems in the realm of vitamin deficiency. It also helps parents peace of mind to prevent their child from being diagnosed with any vitamin deficiencies in the future and prevent any health issues that could appear later on.
Manufacturing Cost
The rubber that would be used on the teething ring to hold the vitamins would be around 5 dollars, US. The hard plastic that makes up the rest of the ring would be around 5 dollars, US. The vitamin supplement that would be put on the teething toy itself, would be around 20 dollars, US. Overall, the approximate price of the teething toy would be 30 dollars, US.
Sales Price
The anticipated sales price on the market would be around 45 dollars US for a starter pack. Then the vitamin liquid would be around 25 dollars, US and sold separately from the teething toy.
Market Size
180,000,000 dollars a year would be the market size for this product. This would be a score of 1 on the Fundability Worksheet.
Fundability Discussion
Technical Feasibility
Score: 2
a. What are the technologies needed? The majority of the technologies that this device requires already exist. There are already teething devices for babies so that part is not hard to accomplish. The necessary vitamins and supplements also already exist in consumable forms so that is not an issue either.
b. What are the challenges? The challenge is figuring out a way to effectively put the vitamins onto the chew toy so that they are able to easily be absorbed by the baby and so that they do not come off when not supposed to. Although the supplements exist, there is no guarantee that they exist in the specific form this device requires.
c. What could go wrong? The major issue that this device could face is the vitamins failing to be retained by the it. The vitamins could end up absorbing too much into the chew toy and thus they would not be able to be absorbed by the baby, or they could potentially not stick to the chew toy enough.
Clinical Feasibility
Score: 3
a. Will it work in the clinic? The device will effectively increase infants’ intake of crucial nutrients and in a manner that will encounter much less resistance than any other method parents may use to get their children to obtain proper nutrition.
b. What are the clinical risks? This device is of low risk because of its noninvasive nature and the use of technologies that largely already are utilized in other contexts with other products.
c. Have similar products been in a clinical trial? How long was the trial? Because the technologies and functions of the device are so low risk, no trials of devices similar to this one have been tested, with the closest concept in testing being a numbing agent to ease teething pain.
BME 100 Spring 2017
